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Carol MacDonald

Artist Image

Artist Statement

I am interested in the use of repetition and process in healing and nurturing our spirits in this age of instant technology and the million distractions that become our day, our week, our life. Machines have replaced many of the ways we used to have to slow down and hear our own voice. I notice in my life a yearning for space, both physical and mental and time to breathe, reflect and consider.

The prints created by Carol attempt to address issues of human and environmental connections. Her images of crows, birds and nests have become a recent journey into the symbolism of community and identity. Carol makes her images using several printing methods: monoprinting, linoleum and wood block printing, silk screening, etching, and collagraph printing. She uses oil-based inks and prints onto 100% rag paper using non-toxic printing methods whenever possible. The following is a video on Carol MacDonald made by Ben Heitmann as part of the Frog Hollow and RETN series the The Artists of Frog Hollow

Printing a Drypoint Etching. Photographs by Rob Hunter

Etching is an intaglio process where you print from below the surface of the plate. In drypoint the image is drawn directly into the plate instead of using acid to bite the image into the plate.

1: The image is scratched into the surface of a plexiglass plate using a metal etching needle.

2: The plate is inked by forcing etching ink into the lines of the plate.

3: The plate is covered with ink and using tarletan a starchy cheesecloth fabric the ink is wiped from the surface of the plate, leaving the ink in the lines below the surface.

4: Final wiping is done.

5: The plates are placed on the bed of the etching press.

6: Printmaking paper is soaked in a water bath and blotted on towels.

7: The paper is laid over the plates on the press.

8: The felt blankets are brought down to cover the plates, paper and bed.

9: The bed is rolled through the top and bottom rollers of the etching press. The pressure of the press pulls the ink out of the lines and deposits it on the paper.

10: The print is pulled off of the plates.

11: Portions of this print are being tinted with homemade, black walnut ink, which is applied with a brush.

12: The completed Etching: Quiver III

Artist Town

Colchester

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